144 - Without a Care
It’s going well, Lex decided as he oversaw the relief effort. For now.
The last few minutes had threatened to explode into bedlam as word had begun to spread that help had finally arrived. Although more than a few ponies had voiced concerns about the newcomers being diseased, those fears had been quickly forgotten as word spread that they had food and medicine. The result had been a horde of ponies surrounding them, and even for Lex it had been obvious that the crowd would turn into a mob in short order if left unchecked. Fortunately, he’d known what to do in the event of such a scenario. Indeed, this had been what he’d initially imagined when he’d set out for Vanhoover, rather than a ghost-city filled with monsters.
The best solution, as with so many problems, was simply to deal with the underlying situation before it became a problem in the first place. In this case, that meant issuing Cloudbank instructions via his whisper-spell, which she in turn passed along to the other pegasi, having them take point with the crowd. Under their direction, everypony began to form an orderly line so that food could be distributed, while those ponies that needed medical attention were helped over to the doctors. He’d likewise tasked Aisle with making sure the doctors had whatever they needed, as well as instructions for putting the other supplies to good use. Fortunately, the camping tents they’d purchased were large enough to hold three or four ponies each, so they could set up temporary shelters for those ponies that needed it most.
Not everything had gone perfectly, of course. A group of four or five ponies had refused to wait to get food, pushing their way past everypony else. When one of the pegasi had tried to stop them, they’d started to become violent. Fortunately, Aria had spotted the altercation before it could escalate, dragging herself towards the quarreling ponies. Although the sight of her had been enough to make the troublemakers stop and stare, she had nevertheless cast a spell on them, unleashing a vivid cone of clashing colors from an outstretched hoof. The bright lights had washed over the feuding ponies – including the pegasi that had tried to stop them – and left them all bowled over, unconscious from the dazzling display. Although Lex heard Sonata mutter something that sounded suspiciously like “showoff” under her breath, he had noted that nopony had gotten out of hoof after that.
Still, for all that things were progressing smoothly, he was already thinking several steps ahead. The number of ponies who were queueing up was quickly growing – in his estimation there were already well over three hundred ponies waiting to be fed or treated – and he knew their supplies were going to be stretched thin. The available food they had was a combination of the stores that C. Shells had unloaded from her ship, most of which were nonperishables, and the remainder of the meals that he’d conjured earlier in the day. Although he knew that he’d be able to create more after he’d slept, the amount that it could create was limited, even if he poured additional magic into the spell. And there was no easy way to create more medicine, which was going to be an issue since he could only use his disease-removal spell on an extremely limi-
“Hey.” Sonata – having just returned from delivering that filly and her sibling to one of the doctors – nudged him, nodding her head in a particular direction. “Who’s that guy supposed to be?”
Following where she was looking, Lex found himself making eye contact with an earth pony stallion. He was taller than the average pony, with a heavy build to match. His coat was a watery blue, with his mane and tail being several shades darker. As he approached, Lex could just barely catch a glimpse of his cutie mark, showing several buildings with balloons and confetti in front of them. It didn’t escape his notice that the newcomer, alone of all the other ponies in the camp, was completely clean as well as lacking any visible wounds or other signs of hardship.
But the most notable thing about the stallion was how everyone else, save for the ponies that had made the trip there with Lex, immediately froze at the sight of him.
The way the crowd suddenly quieted down was enough to make Lex frown, trying to figure out why everyone was reacting like that. It was obvious that this pony was someone important, maybe even the leader of this place, but the sudden cessation of activity made no sense to him whatsoever. Even less explicable was how the pony himself didn’t seem to be doing anything to evoke such behavior. He had a neutral expression on his face, his features completely relaxed and his pace sedate, as though he were going for a stroll. He wasn’t even looking around, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on Lex as he approached.
Lex glared back at him, matching the other stallion’s gaze. He'd never quite understood the etiquette of making eye contact; eschewing it was considered rude, but too long at it became staring, which was also unacceptable. But at the moment he didn't care very much. If this was the leader of this camp, then he deserved a rude look and more for how badly he'd run things. Arresting the imbecile that had so grossly mismanaged this place would be a vital step towards getting Vanhoover back on track.
Out of his peripheral vision, he could see that even the ponies that he’d brought with him were falling silent as well, drawn in by whatever atmosphere that was keeping everypony else quiet. By the time the blue pony had come to a halt in front of Lex, the area had gone completely silent, all eyes turning towards them. For a long moment, the two of them simply eyed each other, each refusing to so much as blink.
The other pony was the first one to speak. “All of you, leave here at once.” The words hung in the air for a moment, and Lex was about to respond when the blue stallion broke eye contact, sweeping his gaze across the crowd. Each of them cringed and looked away when his eyes fell upon them, and Lex belated realized that the words had been directed at them, not him. “We’ve been keeping this quarantine up all this time. Are you really going to let all that we’ve done, all the sacrifices we made, be for nothing?” His face barely changed as he spoke, showing only the slightest hint of disapproval. “Leave, and go to the other side of the camp, right now.”
“Do not,” spoke Lex harshly. He could see a few ponies already starting to slink away, and he fixed each of them with a stern look. It was enough to make them pause, eyes flickering between him and the other stallion, but they didn’t keep walking, and that was enough. He turned his eyes back to the pony in front of him. “Nopony is going anywhere,” he growled.
“Y-yeah! That’s right!” piped up Sonata. She’d gotten caught up in the tension that had enveloped the area, but she shook it off now. If the frightened looks everyone was giving him were any indication, this guy wasn’t the most popular pony around. But that meant that Lex could totes look like the good guy here if he played his cards right, and making sure that he did was her job. “Maybe you didn’t hear the news, but we’ve got everything under control here. Nopony has anything to worry about as long as Lex Legis is in charge!” She paused for applause then, trying to resist the urge to fold her ears back when none came.
The blue stallion regarded Sonata silently for a long moment, then very deliberately looked past Lex. “Does that include her?” he asked lightly, and almost everyone followed his gaze, back to where Garden Gate was still lying in her cage. Cognizant of the numerous eyes on her, she shuddered and turned away. The sight was enough to make Turbo step in front of her, spreading his wings out to try and hide her from view, glaring angrily at the blue stallion that had made her the center of attention, who looked back dispassionately.
“Hold on!” frowned Sonata. “She-”
“What about them?” This time the blue stallion pointed, directing everyone’s attention to the back of where the doctors had unloaded most of their equipment…and the cloth-wrapped body that lay nearby. “Certainly, that pony has nothing to worry about anymore,” he said, and although the wry tone in his voice was light, it was clearly audible to everyone there.
“That’s not fair!” Sonata stamped a hoof. “Lex did everyth-” She paused as Lex’s whispers flowed into her ears, and she paused for a long moment before giving an angry huff. “What about you?”
“Hm?” He raised a brow coolly, his expression now looking almost bored.
“You’re the one who’s been running this place, right?”
“What of it?”
“You haven’t exactly done a bang-up job yourself. Everyone here that I’ve seen is hurt or hungry and they’re all miserable! You’ve got them…” she trailed off as she listened to Lex’s whispers again. “You’ve got them doing these quarantine patrols that make no sense! You’ve been sending out ponies in such small groups that they can barely cover any territory, and if they run into anything more than one or two other ponies then they wouldn’t be able to drive them away! And, um…” She glanced back at Lex, silently asking for more information, which he whispered to her a moment later. The entire time, the blue stallion’s eyes flickered back and forth between them. “And that’s another thing! Why are you sending survivors back into the city?! You should be totes isolating them in another area to see if they’re infected or not, and if not you should let them go!” She pointed at him with a dramatic flourish. “Whaddaya say to all that?”
His response was to look wholly unconcerned. “The threat to Equestria required more extreme steps be taken,” he replied flippantly, giving a shrug as though – despite the gravity of what he was saying – he didn’t care either way. “If those monsters escaped into the countryside, their infection could have spread unchecked. Desperate times called for desperate measures.”
More whispers filled Sonata’s ears with counterarguments. “That, like, doesn’t make any sense. If you really thought this was that bad, you should have called in the princesses.”
“On the contrary, if they had shown up and become infected, everything-”
“Enough.” Lex’s voice rang out with a heavy tone of finality. He was certain that he was talking to the one behind everything that had happened here, but he wanted to be absolutely sure. “Are you the pony responsible for all of this?” He waved a hoof to encompass the whole of the camp.
“Yes,” answered the other pony, his demeanor still completely relaxed.
It was enough to make Lex’s hackles rise. He had thought this would be similar to when he had indicted Celestia for incompetence, where the pony behind all of this would protest that they were right to do what they had done, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. This…utter disinterest that this pony was displaying didn’t make any sense at all, and that was beginning to seriously upset him. “Tell me your name,” he growled.
The corners of the other pony’s mouth turned upward ever so slightly. “Block Party.”
“Block Party,” announced Lex, raising his voice. “You may consider yourself relieved of all authority over these ponies. You’re going to be taken into custody while I work to reverse the harm you’ve inflicted on Vanhoover and its inhabitants, after which time I will have you tried and – in the incredibly likely instance that you’re found guilty – punished harshly for what you’ve done!”
Gasps rang out from the crowd, but Lex ignored them, keeping his eyes firmly on Block Party. Inwardly he tensed, knowing that this was likely to prompt some sort of violent retaliation. But that was fine; defeating such a thoroughly corrupt individual would help to-
Block Party’s smile widened, an amused look spreading across his features. “Certainly," he grinned. "I surrender completely.”
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The typos left, seems Block Party is scary.
And now Block Party is going to try his mind games on Lex. Or maybe all those ponies that he previously beat will finally come to their senses and realize what horrible things they have done, and are not actually justified. Scary.
8433452
Yes scary, because if they do start to realize that, the horror of that is will probably make them actually more likely to support Block Party just to continue to try and deny it, which has been how he's maintaining control for the most part.
The other part being that he's definitely got some sort of magics (or worse psionics) that let him input suggestions into people's minds, which just helps reinforce things. Plus I'm still betting he's not really a pony (at the very least, not an Equestrian one).
Also I can't remember if he ever had any, or if he did if he still has it after everything, but if Celestia and Luna ever gave him any official documentation stating them ceding Vanhoover to him, now would be the time for Lex to bring it out, because having proof of the princesses putting him in charge of the city would go a long way to undermining Block Party's control.
Block Party seems to have gathered quite a bit of information from just his observations alone though unlike Garden Gate, he'll likely continue to gather more before he makes any significant actions against Lex. Of course, he already made his move by openly declaring his 'motives' behind the blockade to everyone in Lex's group so that's bound to get word around.
And the way he diverted everyone's focus away from how he operated by pointing out Lex's failings says to me he intends to turn Lex's group against him in some form. *Looks at Turbo*
Still, coming in with food and medicine as well as shelter ought to have earned Lex some favor with the ponies in Block's group, even if some of it might have been lost when Lex 'arrested' Block.
Block Party didnt want to tell the Princesses because he wanted it going his way without helicopter parents dropping in to wipe his face and ass?
Weird.
Lex? you got anything to say?
As for Block Partys behaviour.
One of the Four Information Horses of The Apocalypse?
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, Rumor?
8433452 The typos are wise to be afraid.
Block Party seems to have given up...but for how he was smiling when Lex placed him under arrest. Between that, and how unconcerned he was with his being indicted, it's almost like he's not really bothered by what's happening...
8433531 There wasn't any official documentation given stating that the princesses have ceded authority of Vanhoover to Lex. That's not something that's escaped his notice, but he considers that to be a fortuitous circumstance. I'm going to put this in spoiler blocks, because it might (and most likely will) become a minor point down the line:
Simply put, when you don't conduct your deals in writing, you have no real cause to object to how they're implemented. To put it another way, without written parameters stating the exact terms to which they're giving him control of the town, Lex can therefore make a case that the deal was that he would be granted ALL sovereign authority over Vanhoover...essentially "interpreting" their agreement as them giving up that land to him in the form of an independent fiefdom. Naturally, that's not what they meant at all, but without putting things into writing Lex can hardly be blamed for reading it that way, now can he?
8433766 Block Party didn't tell the princesses because - or at least, so he said - he was worried that they'd be infected. You don't want to expose the most important people to such a dangerous situation, right?
And aren't Doubt and Uncertainty the same thing?
8433693 So far Block Party seems unusually willing to cede ground to Lex, which is rather odd to consider since he was making at least a token effort to remind everypony why they'd been keeping other survivors away from the start. And of course, he was quick to point out how there are some ponies who certainly don't seem to be benefiting from Lex's rule. All of those were points he could have pressed upon...and yet, he simply fell back. Why not push the issue?
The issue of how Block Party would get along with Turbo and company is...uncertain, to say the least. Block Party is very clearly no friend of Lex, but would Turbo and the others overlook that Block Party is the one who kept them trapped in the horror show that Vanhoover became? It'll be interesting to see if the enemy of Turbo's enemy is someone he considers a friend. What kind of magic would that be?
8434086
Generally graven images and semantic glyphs can survive energy and chemical ttreatments that will kill all living organisms?
8434095
I feel that Block is likely gathering information on the new arrivals and how to use said information against them when the time comes. Block Party's earlier refusal to send pegasi in to fight the fire shows him as a cautious individual so he's likely testing the waters with Lex instead of pushing limits that are still unknown to him.
Though this could also be seen as him informing his group that the Lex and his group are not all they're cracked up to be while also planting seeds of doubt within Lex's group. And if his abilities to influence thoughts are anything to go by, they could be used to undermine Lex's authority even further.
Hmm, I kind of forgot but does Lex's gear protect him from mental suggestions? If so, will he be aware of said intrusion and its source?
8436056 You might very well be right about Block Party. I agree that everything he's done so far paints him as being a cautious individual, at least where unknown situations are concerned. As he noted, Lex's group defeated a kraken, and so aren't something that he can apparently afford to take lightly. Given that he has at least some ability to mentally influence others, as well as a strong understanding of psychology, and he might very well be able to be a threat even when under arrest.
With regards to Lex's ability to resist mental influences, he essentially has three different defenses that he's using in conjunction:
As for the question of "would he realize he'd blocked a mental effect," that's a bit trickier. The game rules for saving throws state: "A creature that successfully saves against a spell that has no obvious physical effects feels a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature of the attack. Likewise, if a creature's saving throw succeeds against a targeted spell, you sense that the spell has failed. You do not sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect and area spells." So he'd know that something had happened if he made a save against a non-obvious effect, but that's about it. Likewise, I'd be tempted to say that he'd know that he'd just resisted something if and when he uses The Adamant Will (i.e. his dark magic) against an effect, since otherwise you'd end up in an awkward situation where someone's points were depleting and they didn't know why.
But with regard to his ring protecting him, I'm less certain if he'd detect it having done so, as that comes from a magic item and not himself. There's some wiggle room there, though I'd be inclined to lead towards "yes, he would know that it was protecting him from something" simply out of precedent, but that's far from definite.